John Romero’s new game ‘Blackroom’ has Ireland to the fore

Blackroom is the name of the newest creation from Doom legends John Romero and Adrian Carmack, with the highly-anticipated latest release from the duo featuring Irish influences throughout.

Being developed by Night Works Games – a “dark and violent subsidiary of Romero Games”, according to its website – the storyline’s premise is a world of extreme biological advances. “Visceral, varied and violent”, Romero revealed the game will pull from many Irish influences, such as castle ruins and the like.

Carmack, who worked with Romero on Quake, Doom, Doom 2, Wolfenstein and many more successful games, is the art director.

Community-based

Blackroom takes place at one of the world’s leading tech companies, Hoxar. The evil-sounding company has created a technology that allows people to be anywhere at any time, creating fully-realised holographic worlds that are indistinguishable from reality, all inside a giant black room.

“Our previous games have always been about the community, that’s why Doom is still around today,” said Romero. To continue that theme, Kickstarter is being used to get gamers in on the ground floor.

According to a Kickstarter campaign that Romero hopes will raise $700,000 – which will be topped-up with industry support should the goal be met – the gaming community will be involved in some of the level creations, too.

John Romero: Irish home

Now based in Galway with his partner Brenda Romero – with the pair founding the Irish gaming company Romero Games – John has been keeping his legion of fans on the edge of their keyboards since 2012 that a new game from him was incoming.

Now, it’s just around the corner. Both Romeros will be speaking about their experiences here in Ireland, the gaming industry and diversity within the tech industry at this year’s Inspirefest, along with a whole range of other interesting speakers.

Inspirefest is Silicon Republic’s international event connecting sci-tech professionals passionate about the future of STEM. Join us again from 30 June to 2 July 2016 for fresh perspectives on leadership, innovation and diversity. Book your tickets now.